Wrapping up a 9-2 win

MINNEAPOLIS - The Orioles are eight games above .500 for the first time since the conclusion of the 2014 season. And they're doing it mostly with muscle.

They hit four more home runs today, including two by Mark Trumbo, and avoided a rain-related interruption in their 9-2 victory over the Twins at Target Field.

The Orioles were 0-7 against the Twins last season, but are 5-0 this year with a makeup game left.

All 11 of the Orioles' runs on Sunday came via the home run, two of five last night and seven of nine today.

Chris Davis and Mark Trumbo went back-to-back in the fourth. Trumbo leads the club with 11 homers and 27 RBIs.

Trumbo hit a two-run shot off Phil Hughes in the second and a solo shot in the fourth while extending his on-base streak to 24 games, the most in the majors.

"I've faced Phil a few times and he's usually aggressive," Trumbo said. "If he throws you a pitch to hit, I felt it was probably the right approach to be aggressive myself."

Adam Jones homered for the second time in two games, his two-run shot in the ninth completing the scoring. Jones, Davis and Trumbo were a combined 10-for-15 with nine RBIs and seven runs scored.

"They were hitting together there, a little triangle there that was pretty good today," said manager Buck Showalter. "They're fun to watch. And I'm so impressed by the way our guys (played) with the conditions. You come out of the clubhouse and it's misty and it's cold and it's raining and the weather report is bad. Our guys, they don't talk about it. They play games and they compete.

"We know Minnesota's better, will be better. Get it while you can because you know somebody's going to pay the price for their challenges they've had early in the season."

Today marked the first time in franchise history - Baltimore and St. Louis - that the Orioles have players hitting back-to-back home runs in three consecutive games, according to STATS. They're the 15th team to do it in three or more games, with the Mets the most recent on April 18-20, 2016.

The major league record is four straight games by the 1964 Twins.

"We obviously have a lot of power in our lineup," Davis said. "I think guys have really had good at-bats, especially these last couple days. Not just going up there and hacking, looking for a purpose and driving. And we haven't been missing them. I don't know if it's a thing, but it's definitely nice to see."

Davis and Jones were batting .196 last night. Now they're hitting .242 and .238 respectively after each collecting four hits today.

"He and I both, we know what it takes to get out of it," Davis said. "Just continue to work and do everything it takes to help out your teammates. Whether it's taking a walk, getting a guy over or just having a quality at-bat, it'll pay off after a while.

"I think the biggest thing for us is we weren't really concerned with conditions. We weren't going up there thinking about hitting the ball over the fence. We were just going up there looking for a certain pitch. And if we can continue to do that, we're a dangerous lineup."

How dangerous? Try 12 home runs in the last three games.

"That's obviously huge for our offense when we can swing the bats like that, even in a place like this when it's a bigger park and the weather wasn't necessarily home run friendly," Davis said. "I'm proud of the guys going up there with their at-bats and really focusing on one pitch and not missing it."

"It's really nice, obviously," Trumbo said. "I think the last couple games have been strong and kind of what we're hoping for. I think it gives our pitchers a little more peace of mind to know that good things are going to happen. I think previous to this little hot streak we were cold for a while and it's going to come and go, but I think everybody is on board to do their part.

Showalter said the power binge isn't a hot topic of conversation in the clubhouse.

"They don't go in the cage and work on hitting home runs," he said. "They go in the cage to work on their timing, and all that other stuff just comes with it. They're strong and when they square a ball up ... But I'm impressed with the conditions that we've been playing under and the professional approach that our guys have had. That bodes well over a long season."

It's not just about the hitting. Orioles starters have gone seven or more innings in four of the last eight games.

Tyler Wilson held the Twins to two runs and six hits in seven innings, with one walk, two strikeouts and a home run. He threw 95 pitches, 62 strikes.

Wilson has posted a 2.93 ERA in 30 2/3 innings.

This was a typical Wilson outing. Not a lot of strikeouts or ground balls. Just a bunch of outs that resulted in another quality start for the Orioles - their 11th in the last 14 games.

Talk of the rotation being the Achilles heel has quieted.

"We had 15 outfield putouts today," Showalter said. "John (Russell) and I were putting the lineup together today and I wanted to get Nolan (Reimold) in there, but I also felt like with Tyler he's going to pitch to contact a lot. The thing about Tyler, he knows who he is and he knows who he isn't and he's not going to get out of that. That's why catchers like catching him and people like playing defense behind him. He attacks and he never has a non-competitive moment on the mound.

"He gives up the home run and he gets right back on there and gets people out. We score a few runs, he goes back out there and goes three up, three down. It's easy to like that type of stuff."

Wilson could write a book on pitching to contact. He filled up a few chapters today.

"No doubt," he said. "Hands down, maybe twice as many outfield putouts as I've ever had in my career. I just wanted to go out there and challenge contact.

"Given the situation, I didn't have my best command in general today and I really wanted to make sure I didn't fall behind guys. When you don't have your best command, it's important to get contact early in counts, and on top of that, I didn't want to go deep to guys when it's raining on us out there. I wanted to give our team a chance to make plays behind me, which they did all day, like they always do, and get back in the dugout out of the rain."

Wilson didn't lack for run support.

"Whether they've put up eight runs in the first three innings or no runs in the first three innings, they always have the potential to put up a crooked number at any point," he said.

"It doesn't really change the way you approach each inning or each game because you know they have the potential to do something special each time out. That makes it a little easier to challenge contact like we did today and get a win."

The Orioles never were more than seven games above .500 last season. They'll try to maintain their roll Thursday night when they begin a four-game home series against the struggling Tigers.

"These guys have high expectations of themselves," Showalter said. "Someone said the other day Toronto has the same record they had last year at this point, so what does it mean over the long haul? It means you played through May 11 and so far so good. Comparatively speaking, this doesn't mean that and that doesn't mean this. It's just keep grinding and be prepared for whatever gets thrown your way."

Just how good is this club?

"I think it remains to be seen," Davis said. "Obviously, we have a whole lot of potential and the exceptions are high within the clubhouse. I think when we start to hit our stride and really start to click it's going to be a lot of fun to watch."